Network operating system with topology autodiscovery
View Patent ↗The network operating system includes an embedded platform for controlling operation of an agile optical network at the physical layer level. At the module embedded level, each module (card-pack) is provided with an embedded controller EC that monitors and control operation of the optical modules. At the next level, each shelf is provided with a shelf processor SP that monitors and control operation of the ECs over a backplane network. All optical modules are connected over an optical trace channel to send/receive trace messages that can then be used to determine network connectivity. At the next, link management level, a network services controller NSC controls the SPs in a negotiated span of control, over a link network. The control is address-based; each NSC receives ranges of addresses for the entities in its control, and distributes these addresses to the SPs, which in turn distribute addresses to the ECs in their control. One of the SPs operates as a router on the link network to relay signaling and control to all entities based on their address. Each NSC constructs, from queried information, a network topology fragment for the embedded elements under its control. A distributed topology system (DTS) shares this topology information with neighboring NSC's to build a complete network view, which can be used by all interested network applications.
1. An optical layer control plane for an agile optical network of a type provided with a management information base (MIB) and with an internal signaling and control network, comprising:
a link management platform for monitoring and controlling operation of all network elements of an agile optical network, and for collecting MIB topology data pertinent to network elements;
a processing platform comprising one or more controllers for monitoring and controlling operation of one or more shelves in said agile optical network at optical module granularity, and for collecting MIB topology data for all modules and shelves that make-up said agile optical network, said controllers serially connected over an optical topology channel (OTC) for enabling the link management platform to discover the current topology of said agile optical network;
means for hierarchically distributing a unique internal address on said internal signaling and control network to each said module, shelf and network element; and
a distributed topology system (DTS) for hierarchically organizing the topology data in said MIB to allow independent routing, switching and restoration functions for a connection.
2. The control plane as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said processing platform comprises:
a shelf processor on each shelf of said network; and
a shelf network for connecting all controllers in a shelf of equipment with a corresponding shelf processor.
3. The control plane as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said OTC is a unidirectional channel.
4. The control plane as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said DTS comprises interfaces with a plurality of network applications that request access to said MIB.
5. The control plane as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said DTS organizes hierarchically all operation, administration and maintenance (OAM) information collected from said modules in said MIB based on said internal addresses.
6. The control plane as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said DTS organizes hierarchically all module, shelf and network element templates in said MIB.
7. The control plane as claimed in claim 6 , wherein a module template includes module identification data for all modules available in said agile optical network, a list with all valid interconnection between said modules, slot identification data and port identification data.
8. The control plane as claimed in claim 6 , wherein a shelf template includes shelf, module, slot, port identification information and a list of valid interconnection between said modules.
9. A method of network topology autodiscovery for an optical agile network having a variety of interconnected modules, one or more of the modules making up a shelf, one or more shelves making up a network element, comprising:
collecting Management Information Based (MIB) topology data for all modules and shelves that make-up said agile optical network;
hierarchically assigning an internal address to each module, shelf and network element of said agile optical network;
reporting the identity and connectivity of all modules in a trace message carried on an optical trace channel of the agile optical network; and
auto-determining the type of each module and validating a configuration of said module against pre-stored module templates.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein
the collection step further comprising processing said trace message into module level topology data.
11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising:
auto-determining the type of each shelf based on said trace message;
validating the configuration of said shelf against pre-stored shelf templates; and
providing shelf level topology data.
12. The method as claimed in claim 11 further comprising hierarchically storing said module level and shelf level topology data into a MIB based on said internal address.
13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , further comprising providing a distributed topology system for accessing said topology data through application specific interfaces to allow a network application to access only network topology data of interest.